The general consensus is, that you can't translate a book into a movie, without doing some major cuts to the source material... except maybe you have Peter Jackson and a couple hundred million dollar at your disposal, then you might get just close enough to appease most of the fans.
I have read the novel "The City of Bones" a few months back, so I am able say how both incarnations of this story deviate from each other. If you now expect the old "the novel is better"-spiel, then you are wrong. The book is a boring, utterly predicable and badly written mess, with the main character being as proactive as a rusty doorknob. It even made me question my principle to always finish what I start reading... but you are not here for a book-review.
Interestingly enough, translating "City of Bones" into a movie has resulted in turning the unwritten laws of movie-adaptions upside down: The cuts and changes that were applied to the movie version, actually benefit the story and I am fully aware how strange this must sound. Furthermore, trimming down the dialogue has made the characters more bearable (or less insufferable). What was long and boring in the book, has transformed to (just) a rushed sequence of scenes, that push the plot forward. The movie is trying to hurry from scene to scene, in order to hit all important bits from the book. This also causes the problem, that many scene-transitions feel disjointed:
"We are in scene A! Now we need to get to scene B! Let us show the reason why we have to go from A to B, either at the very end of scene A or deliver exposition at the beginning of scene B."
...which isn't that much of a problem, because it at least spares you the 'bumbling around' the characters do in the book. The viewer has also much less time to notice the fivehundred-or-so of plot-holes in this story. However, things that had been at least 'somewhat established' in the book, now come right out of nowhere (and sometimes lead nowhere), other plot-points feel 'wrong' in a different way.
Speaking of 'wrong', even if you don't get the least bit invested in this movies love-triangle, I guarantee you, that you will feel the urge to rub your brain clean, when this sub-plot concludes in the end. ( This particular bit is even WORSE in the book, since there you could guess 'the big plot twist' half-way through the book. )
Acting is passable. CGI is a mixed bag. Characters are not memorable at all -except maybe Simon - just like in the book. If you think too hard about it, the plot barely makes any sense - except you assume the main-villain, did not even met the requirements for the position as 'Cobra Commander' - just like in the book. The action is hard to follow, just like in the book.The dialogue is more or less a vessel for exposition, just like in the book. The plot-twits will either make you laugh, cringe or quoting a certain space opera, just like in the book. But at least the main-protagonist feels a bit more proactive.
And NO, the book doesn't give you a explanation, why it is called "City of Bones", either.
Conclusion: Yet another adaption of a YA novel, which wasn't even readable to begin with.
I have read the novel "The City of Bones" a few months back, so I am able say how both incarnations of this story deviate from each other. If you now expect the old "the novel is better"-spiel, then you are wrong. The book is a boring, utterly predicable and badly written mess, with the main character being as proactive as a rusty doorknob. It even made me question my principle to always finish what I start reading... but you are not here for a book-review.
Interestingly enough, translating "City of Bones" into a movie has resulted in turning the unwritten laws of movie-adaptions upside down: The cuts and changes that were applied to the movie version, actually benefit the story and I am fully aware how strange this must sound. Furthermore, trimming down the dialogue has made the characters more bearable (or less insufferable). What was long and boring in the book, has transformed to (just) a rushed sequence of scenes, that push the plot forward. The movie is trying to hurry from scene to scene, in order to hit all important bits from the book. This also causes the problem, that many scene-transitions feel disjointed:
"We are in scene A! Now we need to get to scene B! Let us show the reason why we have to go from A to B, either at the very end of scene A or deliver exposition at the beginning of scene B."
...which isn't that much of a problem, because it at least spares you the 'bumbling around' the characters do in the book. The viewer has also much less time to notice the fivehundred-or-so of plot-holes in this story. However, things that had been at least 'somewhat established' in the book, now come right out of nowhere (and sometimes lead nowhere), other plot-points feel 'wrong' in a different way.
Speaking of 'wrong', even if you don't get the least bit invested in this movies love-triangle, I guarantee you, that you will feel the urge to rub your brain clean, when this sub-plot concludes in the end. ( This particular bit is even WORSE in the book, since there you could guess 'the big plot twist' half-way through the book. )
Acting is passable. CGI is a mixed bag. Characters are not memorable at all -except maybe Simon - just like in the book. If you think too hard about it, the plot barely makes any sense - except you assume the main-villain, did not even met the requirements for the position as 'Cobra Commander' - just like in the book. The action is hard to follow, just like in the book.The dialogue is more or less a vessel for exposition, just like in the book. The plot-twits will either make you laugh, cringe or quoting a certain space opera, just like in the book. But at least the main-protagonist feels a bit more proactive.
And NO, the book doesn't give you a explanation, why it is called "City of Bones", either.
Conclusion: Yet another adaption of a YA novel, which wasn't even readable to begin with.
